Justin Vernon in 10 Songs

Nina Corcoran
·14 min read
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The post Justin Vernon in 10 Songs appeared first on Consequence.

This article originally ran in 2016.

Ever felt overwhelmed by an artist’s extensive back catalog? Been meaning to check out a band, but you just don’t know where to begin? In 10 Songs is here to help, offering a crash course and entry point into the daunting discographies of iconic artists of all genres. This is your first step toward fandom. Take it.

Justin Vernon’s career began like a fable. After the breakup of his old band, DeYarmond Edison, and the breakup of his romantic relationship, Vernon moved back to his hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to hide away in his father’s cabin. Locked indoors during a rough Dunn County winter, he was bedridden, sick for days on end, and busy watching episodes of ’90s TV series Northern Exposure.

Once his brother dropped off some old drums, however, he got to work recording music for what would become For Emma, Forever Ago. He figured anything might save him from the physical and emotional pain, because if you work hard enough and nearly lose your soul in the process, you may just be saved. Maybe.

Turns out the world wanted to save him. Jagjaguwar heard the record, signed Bon Iver, and Vernon was off. He kept hounding at material until he released his self-titled album. The 2012 Grammy wins followed, as did the griping. How can someone who isn’t technically new win Best New Artist? How could a band everyone mispronounced beat out Radiohead and Death Cab for Cutie? And how the hell could that same band turn down an offer to perform at the show? Indie rock — whatever that term had come to mean, if anything at all — exploded and Vernon was caught looking like a hypocrite for rapid fame and wish-washy words against it.

But his time in the spotlight didn’t alter the products he released. Justin Vernon isn’t just the sappy dude behind Bon Iver. He’s orchestrating in Volcano Choir, dancing alongside Francis and the Lights, working closely with Kanye West, waxing poetics beside James Blake. He knows how to tremble his own falsetto as well as emphasize the vocals of others. Lots of musicians play well. Not every musician plays well with others on top of it. Vernon manages to do both.

Does that excuse his offhand remarks about Beyoncé’s corporate sponsorships (when he did one of his own) or his pride for making his own festival? Maybe. Justin Vernon’s a big head from a small town, but he continues to create big ideas that grow on you.

To celebrate Justin Vernon’s birthday on April 30th, we’re looking back at all the shapes his music has taken over the years. This is a crash course in the Bon Iver frontman half the world loves and half the world hates and how his strengths are present, no matter which side you take. Check out the full list below, and scroll to the end for a playlist of all 10 tracks.

Pre-Fame Supergroup

“Bones” by DeYarmond Edison from Silent Signs (2005)

Justin Vernon wasn’t always knee-deep in music. While attending high school and college in his hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, he focused on his classwork, specifically religious studies and women’s studies. In his spare time, he formed DeYarmond Edison. The alt-country group saw soon-to-be famous musicians finding their footing. Vernon teamed up with Brad Cook, Phil Cook, and Joe Westerlund (all of whom would go on to form freak-folk act Megafaun) as well as Chris Porterfield (who would later start Field Report) to create indie folk with an Americana tinge after meeting at a local jazz camp.

After forming in 2002, the band saw enough success to move down to Raleigh, North Carolina, but musical and personal tensions brought about a split in 2006. They didn’t leave fans empty-handed. Both full-length releases, 2004’s DeYarmond Edison and 2005’s Silent Signs, still hold up over a decade later, and several songs — particularly “Bones” and “First Impression” — show early traces of what would soon become other bands. After their breakup, DeYarmond Edison released a free five-track EP and, except for a reunion show in 2011 and Day of the Dead recording, never teamed up again. Given each act saw larger success after parting, it was for the better.

Bare-bones Folk

“Skinny Love” by Bon Iver from For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)

There’s magic in musical discoveries that get passed from one set of hands to another. That was the case for For Emma, Forever Ago, Vernon’s debut album as Bon Iver. After recording the songs in isolation in upstate Wisconsin, he passed a few demos around that soon turned into 500 CDs. Those CDs were passed around physically. They were shared digitally. They were murmured about and buzzed about and, eventually, covered on My Old Kentucky Blog in June of 2007.

The haunting quietness of opener “Flume” and clashing percussion of “Creature Fear” carried a different type of folk, a blend of warmth and coldness that listeners connected to on their own personal levels. By the time he performed the material at CMJ in New York City, Vernon was offered a label contract with Jagjaguwar, and, from there, the rest is history.

It’s hard to describe why his style of bare-bones folk is different than that of other musical acts. Some pin it on the word-of-mouth appeal; others suggest it has to do with Vernon’s production style. At the core of it, the strength of For Emma, Forever Ago comes from Vernon’s mental spirit — or perhaps a lack thereof. Holing up in a cabin after heartbreak and physical illness (mononucleosis damaged his liver) is cheesy, but that cooped-up outlet allowed him to heal, and the album captures every step of the grieving process with total authenticity. What more could be asked of emotional folk that not only helps the musician, but listeners as well?

Minimalist Collaborations

“Big Red Machine” by Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner from Dark Was the Night (2009)

Nearly every year, international charity Red Hot Organization curates a compilation album to raise money for HIV and AIDS awareness. The group’s goodwill often sees the best come out of musicians, be it because they want to help raise awareness or because they want to give something to the organization that’s as powerful as the importance of a life. In 2009, they released their 20th compilation, Dark Was the Night, featuring Feist, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Yo La Tengo, Conor Oberst, and more. It arguably continues to be their most stacked, powerful, and effective release yet, in part thanks to two contributions from Justin Vernon: Bon Iver cut “Brackett, WI” and collaboration “Big Red Machine.”

A single piano note plunks repeatedly, a few chords dropped later to flesh out its tone while strings tug behind it. It’s haunting and spare, and after the layered acoustics of For Emma, Forever Ago, this showed Vernon had the ability not only to craft intricate works that appear to be simple, but intricate works that are simple. By teaming up with Aaron Dessner of The National, he began what would later become a trend of minimalist collaborations in his career. First came Anaïs Mitchell, then Gayngs, James Blake, and Colin Stetson. Vernon created a space for himself as a minimalist collaborator who finds power in simple structure or vocal-heavy ballads.

Indie Rock Romping

“Blood Bank” by Bon Iver from Blood Bank EP (2009)

If For Emma, Forever Ago was Justin Vernon’s folk solace, then his 2009 EP, Blood Bank, was a dip of the toes into indie rock and a lack thereof. The four-track release saw him expand upon the frigid space of the debut. Bon Iver seemed intent on sequestering in snowy imagery and gentle buzzing. The power of feedback wasn’t lost on him. The title track saw electric guitars howling in the distance, drums thudding through muted tones, feedback spinning far away so as to create the sensation of wind beyond a wall.

The EP challenged what was beginning to become an easy style of Vernon’s to mock: the heart on the sleeve and pained falsettos. “Beach Baby” returned to acoustic strumming with a lonely slide guitar solo. “Babys” saw glittering piano slip into a dream. “Woods” offered vocal experimentation through what seemed, at the time, to be ill-used Auto-Tune. Vernon became obsessed with tonal layers and used indie rock production to show his depth of musical style.

Hip-Hop Samples

“Lost In the World” by Kanye West from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

Never forget one of the best rap albums of all time, or one of the most surprising samples. Kanye West changed the game when he released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. He stuffed the record with guest vocalists and contributors, pulling a concept record in crazy directions and, in turn, his own talents. Bon Iver had yet to become a household name, but with help from West, Justin Vernon and the rest of his group crossed into the mainstream.

Kanye sampled the previously haunting and bare “Woods,” upped the bass, and turned it into a thundering, motivational, beautiful reflection on mass identity confusion and a call for help. Vernon brought his own voice and ideas to the table when Kanye invited him to the studio to add additional work to “Lost in the World” — later earning the title of Kanye’s “favorite living person” because of it — which takes a decent amount of courage to do.

Kanye is intimidating. Having your work altered is intimidating. Having your ideas reworked to fit someone else’s is intimidating. But Vernon let it happen, and his song bent in new ways to fit multiple tastes. Thus, the versatility of one man’s lonely music was found.

Ode to ’80s Mall Music

“Beth/Rest” by Bon Iver from Bon Iver, Bon Iver (2011)

There’s no better way to redefine your style than to do so with a self-titled album. Bon Iver’s sophomore release left folk fans in the dust by bringing on saxophones, and boy did Vernon fall in love with them. Bon Iver, Bon Iver sticks horns into every crevice it can. Sean Carey’s drumming surfaced more strongly, and synths smooth over the background, but the album turns back three decades with unflinching commitment.

Though some of the album’s cuts (“Perth,” “Towers,” “Holocene”) stayed true to the indie rock grandiosity of Blood Bank, this was a time of reinvention for Vernon to prove he could return to his jazz roots without ditching the emotional distraught people turned to him for, and he did so.

It caps off with his most ludicrous cut, “Beth/Rest,” which he embraced live more than any other song on there. All five minutes of that overblown, exhausted song drag on and on — but Vernon wanted it to. It takes a certain level of confidence to channel the cheese of American mall music from the ’80s. Not only does he bolster his own confidence, but he commits to it, grooving to the song in a way that convinced many people they should, too, even if they don’t when Michael Bolton songs play outside Hot Topic.

Intimate Covers

“I Can’t Make You Love Me” originally by Bonnie Raitt (2011)

The release of Bon Iver’s self-titled album saw single “Calgary” get its own vinyl pressing. For die-hard fans, that wax also had the man they first fell in love with on it, at least via the form of a stripped-down cover. Vernon recorded a medley of Bonnie Raitt, specifically “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and “Nick of Time,” for the b-side in 2011, originally debuting it on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon a few weeks prior.

Musicians often use covers as a way to reveal what inspired them in the past or what inspires them in the now, paying homage to artists or reinventing their work to shine a light on its alternate aspects. Vernon’s tribute to Raitt sat him at a piano where he laid down a straightforward rendition. Each of her words left his mouth with shrill, rounded notes, hitting the air with a different type of somberness, something less hollow or hopeless than before. Vernon used the cover like he would with others: to revive his fondness of intimacy and to share it openly so that others could curl up inside of it.

Full Band Cinematics

“Byegone” by Volcano Choir from Repave (2013)

Writing your own songs is easy. Writing songs for a full band (and then some) is hard. With that never-ending desire to write, Vernon turned towards Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ensemble Collections of Colonies of Bees in 2005 and asked if they wanted to join forces. Under the moniker Volcano Choir, they worked on a collection of powerful, instrument-heavy songs for their debut album, Unmap, which came out in 2009. Several years later came Repave, a record that expanded on that style.

Vernon wasn’t new to the workload of writing for a full band at the time of Volcano Choir’s sophomore release, but he did treat the project like a chance to try new attitudes. Wisconsin doesn’t change much year to year. Compare the two bands, though, and you’d swear there’s new scenery outside the studio. Volcano Choir marches headstrong into anthemic crescendos and percussion parts akin to the emotional bait of post-rock. Vernon flexes his muscles in a new project with a bolder sound, and it appears to give him an optimistic mindset, too. If Bon Iver is his outlet for emotionally destructive songs, then Volcano Choir is where he builds cinematic, motivational records.

Three Who Shall Not Be Named

“Courtyard Marriot” by Jason Feathers from De Oro (2014)

Two summers ago, a mysterious group surfaced that dawned fake monikers, but read between the lines and it was clear who was who. Jason Feathers, a mystery band that refused to let up on their storyline, saw Astronautalis take the name Creflo (“a red-chested, god-bassed Southern rapper in a fancy white suit”), S. Carey call himself Toothpick (“a drummer-hype-piano-man all in one”), and Vernon renamed himself Ephasis (“a heavily-seasoned guitar-crooning lost-cowboy). Their essay-long bio put plenty of detail into back history and stories of how they met. Reading it resulted in a few eye rolls, but songs like “Courtyard Marriot” showed they had material sturdy enough to warrant a listen.

Country rap doesn’t scream Justin Vernon, and yet the project worked surprisingly well. At times, De Oro sounds like a record some college sophomores are incessantly proud of, but its heart means well. It’s splashy and loud, the type of gruff rap that gets heart-eyed over electronics and gives drums the center focus. The trio never toured behind the material or spoke of it much. By now, it’s pretty much faded into the past without so much as a peep, but faithful fans will bring it up when they want to get a party started but forget it lacks the type of hooks that actually start parties.

Experimental Electronics

“22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Bob Moose Extended Cab Version]” by Bon Iver from 22, A Million (2016)

Vernon has dabbled in enough spin-off genres of folk. It’s hard to think of how he can top the rawness of For Emma, Forever Ago or the ego-waving hits of Bon Iver, Bon Iver. He tried Americana rap. He tried hip-hop collaborations. What’s left then? If you’re him, you return to the woods. You listen to music. You listen to your friends’ music. You open their worlds. You become fascinated by them. And, as 22, A Million’s singles show, you try your hand in that world with the open-eyed wonder of someone finding beauty in both the cliched and overlooked aspects of it.

Returning to his Bon Iver moniker, Vernon tries his hand at experimental electronics and wields some hefty material. The world first waved hello to it via album opener “22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Bob Moose Extended Cab Version],” an Aphex Twin title that clips and cuts, splicing electronics over loops. It’s the manic amazement and fear of someone overwhelmed by the constant collapse and rebirth of Earth. Yet these songs are still quintessential Bon Iver. “10 dEATh bREasT” stomps with the percussion rattling of his self-titled. The saxophones blowing in the background of “22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Bob Moose Extended Cab Version]” show a wave to his ’80s obsession.

Justin Vernon keeps trying a new hand of cards, but looking back at his history, it’s clear how his personality fits into all of it — and how we’re strung along the whole way.

Justin Vernon in 10 Songs Playlist:

Justin Vernon in 10 Songs
Nina Corcoran

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